curtail
To shorten or abridge the duration ofTo shorten or abridge the duration of; to bring an end to; to truncate.
Recorded: Dvortygirl, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
» Their efforts to curtail spending didn't quite succeed.
Ihre Anstrengungen, Ausgaben einzudämmen, waren nicht ganz von Erfolg gekrönt. — Yorwba
gauravjiii · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(transitive)To shorten or abridge the duration of; to bring an end to; to truncate.
When the audience grew restless, the speaker curtailed her speech.
beschneiden, stutzen, verkürzen
сокраща́тьsokraščátʹ, сократи́тьsokratítʹ, уреза́тьurezátʹ
(figuratively, transitive)To limit or restrict; to keep in check.
beschränken, beschneiden, drosseln
ограни́чиватьograníčivatʹ, ограни́читьograníčitʹ
(obsolete, transitive)To cut short the tail of (an animal).
Curtailing horses procured long horse-hair.
kupieren
укора́чиватьukoráčivatʹ, укороти́тьukorotítʹ, обреза́тьobrezátʹ
- place restrictions on
- terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent
Examples
7 sentencesTheir efforts to curtail spending didn't quite succeed.
deIhre Anstrengungen, Ausgaben einzudämmen, waren nicht ganz von Erfolg gekrönt. — Yorwba
Netanyahu wants to severely curtail the powers of the judiciary.
In this country, the freedom to browse the Internet is curtailed.
Sami's privileges were curtailed.
We can say that there's not a clear winner in terms of a policy to curtail medical expenses and benefits.
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 3
By meaning 3
Origin
Alteration of curtal, from Old French courtault (“which has been shortened”), itself fromAlteration of curtal, from Old French courtault (“which has been shortened”), itself from court (“short”) (from Latin curtus) + -ault
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
curtails, curtailing, curtailed, curtailedSynonyms
13 synonymsWord family
7 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.